I was told this morning that a Tawny Owl has been calling from the copse between Teece Drive and the Ricoh area over the last few nights. I was told the same thing a few years ago, but nothing came of that. Will pursue. It has always seemed to me that there ought to be a Tawny Owl somewhere around the lake area: I have only ever seen one bird and the fishermen, who often spend nights here, tell me they never see or hear owls

There was some activity on the old Celestica site today but as far as I could see it was likely that the contractors working on the Castle Farm Interchange improvements were using it to store their vehicles and other equipment.

Notes from today
- a drake Shoveler was new in: as with the last one it had nothing to do with the duck that stayed with its friends the Gadwalls
- of the 6 drake Pochard, one was a 1st winter bird
- lots of Goosanders today: a brownhead and two drakes flew E; then 5 birds seen circling low over the lake, with 2 breaking off and leaving to the E and the other 3 flying off E; later 6 more (2 drakes) flew W; much later a brownhead flew W
- two Little Grebes today: one in the NE as usual; and one in the NW area
- not sure many Lapwings there were: 1 flew E; some time later 3 flew W then S; and later again 5 flew E: the same birds?
- 77 of the over flying Wood Pigeons were high-enough in 6 groups to be considered ‘migrants’ as opposed to local movements
and
- 3 Grey Squirrels: are they not supposed to hibernate?

Here is this morning’s drake Shoveler: has been a good Autumn for records of this species.

Here the first winter drake (Greater) Scaup can be directly compared with an adult drake Pochard – note the red eye on the Pochard.

The pale back on this bird invites comparison with the (Greater) Scaup. It is in fact a duck Pochard, evident from the ring around the eye with a thin line running back from it. Had the bird been alert the shape of the head and the bill would have identified it easily.

Three fiery Tufted Ducks.

Well the camera never lies. Through the binoculars I thought these were 3 brownhead Goosanders. A grab shot in poor light reveals two drakes and 1 brownhead.

These two Cormorants – an adult and an immature with the white belly – looked at the lake but decided not to come in.

Notes
- Herring Gulls are not that common here: this 2nd winter bird joined in with the Black-headed Gulls harassing the Goosanders and Tufted Ducks that were trying to feed before turnings attention its to the Grey Heron that protested loudly
and
- the sun was shining strongly and I again checked the ivy: a VERY late wasp sp. as well as the usual flies